Categories

Elon Musk Unveils His Plans For the BFR Spaceship

When we first saw the render of the giant rocket, we were all thinking – that’s how we imagined it would look! There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. Moreover, people have said that it looks like spaceships from old sci-fi movies.

However, Musk explained that the looks are not just for the design, they’re also functional. The three fins will be used to control the rocket and for landing. Here are more surprising details about the spaceship.

The Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) is 387.1 feet, and it can fit over 220 tons of payload to transport to Mars.

With such a huge size, the BFR is quite expensive. Musk said that the BFR would take about $5 billion to develop and that it’s about 5% of the resources SpaceX has. However, as the program continues, it will become more costly. To cover some of the expenses, the first paying passenger has made a down payment for the trip that will make him the first space tourist, Yusaku Maezawa, to fly around the moon in 2023 on board of the BFR.

Advancing Rocket Technology

“Funding BFR is a key question. We need to seek every possible means of funding,” Musk stated.

He also explained that the BFR could be sent not just to the Moon, but also to Mars. It will need refueling, and it can then travel anywhere in the solar system. The goal of his space company is to “help advance rocket technology to a point where we can potentially become a multi-planet species,” added Musk.

The BFR makes for a great landing. The rocket is designed to land on planets that have or don’t have an atmosphere.

Inside the rocket, there are 1.100 square feet, and Musk wants to create private rooms and group areas for missions that would take weeks or months. It can hold up to 100 people for a Mars mission. For the first flight around the moon, it will carry almost a dozen people – Maezawa and a group of artists and creative people that he will invite.

After the series of tests, uncrewed missions, and an uncrewed mission around the Earth, the BFR will take people around the moon sometime around 2023.

Andre Blair s is the lead editor for Advocator.ca. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.) from the School of Public Health, Department of Health Administration, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Andre specializes in environmental health, but writes on a variety of issues.